Pakistan signs NATO convoy deal with US

Rawalpindi, Pakistan (ANTARA News/AFP) - Pakistan on Tuesday signed an agreement with the United States on arrangements for NATO convoys supplying troops in Afghanistan.

Islamabad agreed to reopen NATO land routes to its war-torn neighbour earlier this month after closing them for seven months in protest at a botched US air raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

The deal is part of efforts by the "war on terror" allies to patch up their fractious relationship which plunged into crisis last year over the air strike and the discovery of Osama bin Laden hiding in Pakistan.

Guidelines laid out by the Pakistani parliament earlier this year insisted that in future no lethal supplies be transported through the country, though Western officials say this never happened in the first place.

A Pakistani security official said the agreement gave Islamabad the right to refuse or reject any shipment and special radio chips would be fitted to all containers for monitoring.

Richard Hoagland, the most senior US diplomat currently in Pakistan, who signed the agreement on behalf of Washington, hailed it as a "demonstration of increased transparency and openness" between the two governments. (AK)